Josh Porter at Bokardo and Adam Darowski at Traces of Inspiration are putting forth the notion that the blog is the new résumé. I couldn’t agree more. Today, if you are blogging anything at all to do with your work, profession or your skills it’s all discoverable online. And easily so.
Your blog, your LinkedIn Profile, del.icio.us links, etc. all form a pretty complete picture of who you are, how you think and what you have to say. It’s critical that you behave responsibly and professionally online. That you vet your online, public material for stupid mistakes, whether those mistakes are spelling errors, factual issues, or that picture of you on Facebook at the fraternity kegger.
Any smart prospective employer is going to look you up online before they interview you. And if you’ve left ammunition or compromising material lying about on the Web, they should be seeking to call you out on it at interview.
So watch yourself and be smart. Make sure your blog postings, where professionally relevant, are smart, original and add value.
I agree but it also goes both ways. I Google anyone who I am going to interview with and often make decisions based on that.
[…] Collins of acidlabs writes about the complete online persona and how you need to be careful. Your blog, your LinkedIn Profile, del.icio.us links, etc. all form a pretty complete picture of […]
Stephen - did just that today - somebody wanted my resume, so I sent them links to my blog and public Linkedin profile (hope I fixed up the speeling …)
I also find that I am much more motivated to keep my linkedin profile up-to-date than my regular resume.
One of the things I am struggling with are recent ‘connect with me on Linkedin’ requests. A number of recruitment agencies I have contacts with are now actively wanting to be one of my connections. Unfortunately I think this has less to do with me and more to do with my network. I’ve accepted some invitations with those agencies who I’ve found courteous and professional, but I have concerns about others who clearly want to use me for market intelligence and not a lot more.
Justin, I agree with your concerns. I am connected with a number of recruiters but those connections are largely because I have found work with the help of those recruiters or have met them some other way.
I make an effort not to be an easy conduit for connection-making. I have my own reputation and brand to protect.
Justin and Stephen, the last two comments touch a nerve with me, and make me want to review the LION type recruiter profiles that I have connected with. Most likely I’ll leave as is, but I do want to make sure the profiles titles, as part of my public brand, don’t get too keyword spammy (e.g. repeating LION or toplinked.com multiples times.)
Back to blog == resume- yes! And what a more transparent way for us to share work/business information one another. Exposing that info to the online fishbowl tamps down the tendency to reinvent one’s focus or niche with each resume transmission.
It all helps motivate me to get moving a bit faster on my own blog as well as be aware of what I’m putting out on the web …
Adam brings up a good argument:
“It seems a lot of tech folks just don’t care enough to blog. What is going to happen soon is that those people will not be able to land the really sweet gigs. Companies will be impressed by blogging candidates, knowing that they take their work seriously enough to document it and share it. Those who don’t blog will have to settle for the lackluster jobs. Maybe this isn’t a bad thing, since the sweet gigs often require a “way of life” attitude towards the work.”
I’m not sure if i’m 100% on board with this, but it does spur me on … i have not seen it be truth in my life, but it does make me lean towards looking for people online (blog, linked in, delicious, etc …) during the hiring process.